Community fibre betters commercial ISPs in the US

Researchers at the Berkman Klein Center in the US have found advantages for consumers in community fibre broadband compared with commercial offerings. “We examined prices advertised by a subset of community-owned networks that use fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology. In late 2015 and 2016 we collected advertised prices for residential data plans offered by 40 community-owned (typically municipally-owned) FTTH networks. We then identified the least-expensive service that meets the federal definition of broadband (regardless of the exact speeds provided) and compared advertised prices to those of private competitors in the same markets. We were able to make comparisons in 27 communities and found that in 23 cases, the community-owned FTTH providers’ pricing was lower when the service costs and fees were averaged over 4 years. We also found that almost all community-owned FTTH networks offered prices that were clear and unchanging, whereas private ISPs typically charged initial low promotional or “teaser” rates that later sharply rose, usually after 12 months.” They also made the incidental finding that Comcast, the major cable operator, advertised different prices and terms for the same service in different regions. They also note: “We do not have enough information to draw conclusions about the impacts of these practices. In general, our ability to study broadband pricing was constrained by the lack of standardisation in internet service offerings and a shortage of available data. Read more